This invention relates generally to labels that are to be attached to objects and more specifically to those labels used by retail establishments emphasizing personal service and quality such as gift boutiques, jewelry stores, etc. Labels of this type are most frequently used to convey the price of an object to a consumer, but may also contain other information including inventory control numbers and/or the retailer's name. The labels may additionally relate information by their color (for example, a "red tag" sale).
Labels of this type fall into three distinct classes called "adhesion labels" 10, "tag labels" 12 and "dumbbell labels" 14, as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, respectively. Except for the information contained thereon, adhesion labels 10 and tag labels 12 have very little in common. The dumbbell label 14 is a hybrid of the other two.
Referring to FIG. 1, an adhesion label 10 consists of a medium 16 (usually, but not necessarily, paper) the back side of which contains an adhesive material and the front side of which is used to convey information to those who read the label. Although most adhesion labels use a self-adhesive material, other types of adhesive materials well known in the art may be used. Adhesion labels 10 are used by retailers to price and otherwise identify objects. They are applied adhesive side down to desired objects where they remain until removed. "Removable adhesion labels" use an adhesive material that allows them to be readily removed from objects upon which they are placed. "Permanent adhesion labels" use an adhesive material that must normally be dissolved with a solvent to remove them from an object.
Adhesion label manufacturers typically ship their labels 10 adhesive side down on a wax-like carrier 18 that allows self-adhesive labels to adhere to the carrier with enough tenacity that they remain in place on the carrier until they are to be used. At that time they are easily removed from the wax-like carrier 18 and applied to desired objects. The wax-like carrier 18 is typically a flat sheet without sprocket holes; however, it may be in the form of a strip with sprocket holes 19 along each side.
As shown in FIG. 4, large adhesion labels 20 having an asymmetrical perforated fold-line 22 are also known to exist. Adhesion labels 20 of this type are typically used to capture large flat items, such as plastic bags 24, as illustrated in FIG. 5. Smaller adhesion labels having a perforated tear-line permitting a portion of each such label to be removed from an object to which it is attached are also known to exist. Substantially all of the adhesive portions of both of these types of adhesion labels are dedicated to grasping the captured item itself.
Referring to FIG. 2, a conventional tag label 12 consists of a medium 26 in the form of a tag upon which information is conveyed on one or both sides and has a hole 28 (usually punched near one edge) through which a string 30 is threaded. To prevent the string 30 from falling out of the hole 28, it is usually knotted to form a continuous loop. Tag labels 12 are typically attached to objects having an appendage, such as the handle 32 of a teacup 34 as illustrated or the button of a garment. A tag label 12 is attached to such an object by placing an end portion of the continuous string 30 around the appendage, inserting the medium 26 through that end portion of the continuous loop, and pulling the tag medium to draw the continuous string loop taut and captivate the tag label on the appendage. Tag labels 12 are adhesive free and can typically be removed without destroying the label.
Referring to FIG. 3, a dumbbell label 14 is shaped like a dumbbell with two large symmetrical end portions 36 connected by a long thin intermediate portion 38. Like an adhesion label, a dumbbell label 14 has adhesive on its entire backside and is shipped by the manufacturer on a wax-like carrier. When a dumbbell label 14 is to be used, information is first written on one or both end portions 36. The dumbbell label 14 is then removed from the carrier and one end portion 36 is passed through an opening of an object to be labled, such as the opening defined by the handle of a teacup. Next, the end portions 36 of the dumbbell label 14 are aligned and joined together adhesive backside to adhesive backside. At the same time, corresponding parts of intermediate portion 38 are also aligned and joined joined together adhesive backside to adhesive backside. In effect, the intermediate portion 38 of a dumbbell label 14 emulates the string of a tag label and the end portions 36 of a dumbbell label emulate the medium of a tag label.
Dumbbell labels 14 and variants thereof have several drawbacks. First, unlike a tag label which may be attached to an object by passing only the string loop (not the medium) of the label through an opening of the object, a dumbbell label 14 must be attached to the object by passing one of the large end portions 36 (i.e., the medium) of the label through the opening. In some applications, such as where the opening is too small to pass the medium, this limitation is so severe that a dumbbell label 14 cannot be used at all. Even when the medium of a dumbbell label can be passed through the opening, it is difficult to keep the adhesive on the backside of the medium from inadvertantly touching the object being labeled. Attempts to disengage the medium from its unintended position almost always result in the dumbbell label being ruined. Even when the medium of a dumbbell label is properly passed through the opening, it is difficult to prevent the thin intermediate portion of the label from suffering the same fate. The intermediate portion's fragility virtually insures that the label will be ruined when attempting to disengage the intermediate portion from its improper position. Furthermore, even if the medium and intermediate portion of a dumbbell label are properly passed through the opening, it is very difficult to insure that the various parts of the dumbbell label will be properly aligned when their adhesive backsides first touch. There is no opportunity for a second try.
Even when the various parts of a dumbbell label are properly joined, other problems arise. The adhesive on the backside of the intermediate portion of a dumbbell label causes the intermediate portion to become attached to the object it loops. This results in the label permanently sticking out at what invaribly turns out to be an unnatural and unattractive angle. Another disadvantage of the dumbbell label is that the thin intermediate portion emulating the string loop of a tag label is substantially weaker than the string loop it emulates. In practice, dumbbell labels having adhesive backs are frequently torn off and lost. Finally, as is discussed in more detail later, adhesive-backed dumbbell labels have other drawbacks when they are automatically printed.
Occasionally a retailer will find that dishonest consumers "swap labels" (a process by which the dishonest consumer removes a label from a lower-priced object and substitutes that label for the label on a higher-priced object so that the higher-priced object can be purchased at a lower price). To counter this practice the retailer will use permanent adhesion labels. This increases the cost to the retailer because most permanent adhesion labels must be removed from an object by special solvents before the object is released to the consumer. There is also a high risk associated with using permanent adhesion labels because the solvents that dissolve the adhesive frequently dissolve the material on which the label is attached.
Tag labels are somewhat immune to label swapping because it takes a considerable amount of time to remove and replace a tag label, and speed is of the essence in label swapping. A special kind of dumbbell-like label made of a plastic material is used for those objects requiring a permanent label that is similar to a tag label. One end of such a label is passed through an opening of the object and thereupon permanently connected to the other end of the label by an irreversible interlocking mechanism. This kind of label can only be removed by destroying the label. Typically, this kind of label costs several times as much as the tag label it replaces.
It should be noted that a considerable amount of time is required to print information on labels and to attach the labels to an object. In practice it takes about the same amount of time to label an object as it does to process the sale of the object (i.e., labeling is not an insignificant operational cost). For objects like brass or glass that require periodic cleaning with solvents and/or polishing with agents that destroy labels, the labeling cost often exceeds the cost of processing the sale. Experience shows that labels must be removed from most objects that are given a thorough cleaning. Once a label is removed, it is almost always replaced by a new one because of the inordinate amount of time required to nondestructively remove tag labels and because non-permanent adhesion labels lose much of their adhesive quality when they are removed from an object. Of course permanent adhesion labels, which are usually removed with special solvents, are always ruined when they are removed.
Most retailers still hand print their labels. The retailer usually selects an employee having good penmanship to initially print the labels and label the objects. Although errors are usually kept low at this stage, it is much more common for errors to be introduced when a previously labeled object is cleaned. The errors occur because the person cleaning the object is often not the same person who originally labeled the object, and the person who cleans an object usually is the one who relabels it. Any illegible labels or labels with transcription errors decrease the retailer's profits because an object having an illegible label or one bearing an erroneously higher price often remains unsold. An object with a label bearing an erroneously lower price will also reduce the retailer's profits because the retailer will almost always honor the lower price. The mislabeling problem is exacerbated since one usually cleans several objects at a time. Often the hands of the person cleaning the objects are dirty with polishing and/or cleaning agents from previous objects. These agents frequently adhere to the next label to be removed. After the object is cleaned it is common for the removed label to be almost unreadable, making it difficult to duplicate the original label. Furthermore, the person cleaning the objects is unlikely to ask for help in correcting any errors because the retailer has typically already told the person to be very careful when removing labels. Clearly, anything that can prevent errors or speed up the labeling process is desirable and will have a positive effect on the retailer's operations.
Although most retailers still hand print the information on their labels, the advent of low cost computers and reliable reasonably-priced printers allows retailers to machine print their labels rather than printing them by hand. This will eliminate some errors and reduce the frequency of the errors that find their way onto the labels of most manually-driven systems.
Automating the printing of labels creates a new set of problems. First, one must recognize the fact that the inexpensive and popular tag labels are not easily adapted to automatic printing. Unlike adhesion labels which readily adapt to sprocket-driven carriers, there is no readily available carrier to convey the tag labels past a print mechanism. Even if there were, it is clear that tag labels would have to be printed without the strings attached because the strings would undoubtedly raise havoc with contemporary low-cost print mechanisms. Thus, the retailer would have the added problem of threading a string through the hole in each printed tag label and knotting the ends of each such string to form a continuous string loop for each such label.
It is clear that neither the adhesion label nor the tag label is satisfactory for labeling all objects. For example, one would not label a wedding ring with an adhesion label or a crystal ball with a tag label. Thus, a fully automated printing system should be able to print information on both adhesion labels and tag labels. Since printers, though reasonably priced, are still one of the more expensive peripherals driven by a computer, it is economically desirable that the same printer be capable of printing on both adhesion and tag labels. However, if a printer existed that accommodated tag labels, it is unlikely that it would also accommodate adhesion labels. Thus, a retailer would need one printer dedicated to printing on adhesion labels and another printer dedicated to printing on tag labels. Most retailers would be forced to reject this two-printer solution because (1) two printers cost more than one printer; (2) a computer for controlling the printing process would require an operating system capable of selecting first one printer and then the other, and the operator would be required to select which of the two printers is to be used; (3) both printers would have to be located near each other since one has little choice in dictating the order in which objects are to be labeled; and (4) retailer's space concerns would lead them to reject the concept of keeping two printers one of which is always idle.
It is well known that when a carrier strip containing adhesion labels has been fed into a printer mechanism an attempt to "back up" the carrier strip will frequently, if not always, cause the adhesion labels to peel off the carrier strip and attach themselves deep within the printer mechanism, thereby rendering the printer mechanism inoperative. Accordingly, when it is time to remove the carrier strip from the printer mechanism, the carrier strip is typically severed as close as possible to the place at which it enters the printer mechanism. The portion of the carrier strip then remaining in the printer mechanism is thereupon fed forward through the printer mechanism to prevent adhesion labels from peeling off within the printer mechanism. Thus, each time the carrier strip is changed, a certain number of labels are sacrificed. It is therefore desirable that the carrier strip be changed infrequently, (i.e., not with every change in the kind or class of labels to be printed such as a change from adhesion labels to tag labels). Not only would this save labels, but it would also save the time spent loading and aligning the carrier strip.
The present state of the art for solving the dual requirements of both the adhesion label and the tag label is to use the dumbbell label in place of the tag label. Although it already has been shown that the dumbbell label is inferior to the tag label, other undesirable attributes arise when one prints upon a dumbbell label with a state-of-the-art printer. It should be noted that given the opportunity, consumers almost always orient an object's label so that the label's printing is read in the customary left to right order. This means that a consumer often rotates and adjusts a conventional tag label from its hanging position into a position from which it is more easily read. This will also be done with a dumbbell label when its printing is improperly oriented. The inherent fragility of the dumbbell label dictates that its printing be oriented such that the label can be read without twisting or turning it. To accomplish this, when a dumbbell label is vertically oriented on a carrier, it is highly desirable, and probably necessary, for the printer to be able to print information on one of the end portions of the dumbbell label in an inverted format. This will result in the printing being properly oriented when the two end portions of the dumbbell label are folded over and joined. It should also be noted that it is undesirable and perhaps unacceptable to print information on a dumbbell label so that the information is oriented parallel to the intermediate portion joining the two end portions. To do so would suggest orienting the dumbbell label parallel to the horizon to make its printing read properly left to right. Most retailers would reject this orientation on the grounds of bad taste and poor design asthetics.
Even if one accepts the dumbbell label, the best one-printer solution using state of the art printers and both adhesion and dumbbell labels would be to have either one carrier strip containing only adhesion labels and another carrier strip containing only dumbbell labels, or to have a single carrier strip containing both kinds of labels (they could be disposed side by side or could alternate vertically). The first solution is very impractical because it would be necessary to change carrier strips each time one changes the kind of label to be printed. As has been mentioned, changing carrier strips wastes labels and takes time. The second solution is also impractical because there is a high probability that at any time only one of the two kinds of labels under the print head would be used. Both solutions suffer from the fact that the physical characteristics of the two kinds of labels differ considerably from each other. This implies that the printing system must support two different print routines and the operator must specify which kind of label is to be printed. In addition to the foregoing complications, and as noted above, the dumbbell label is at best an inferior approximation to the popular tag label. Thus, it is seen that there exists the need for a single labeling system that adequately solves the dual requirements of printing on adhesion labels and tag labels.
Accordingly, an object of an aspect of the present invention is to create a dual-function label that can be used either as an adhesion label or as a tag label.
Another object of an aspect of the present invention is to create such a dual-function label for which there is no difference in the printing requirements of the label whether it is to be used as an adhesion label or as a tag label.
Another object of an aspect of the present invention is to create a dual-function label that gives the user the option of deciding whether the label is to be used as an adhesion label or as a tag label after the label has been printed.
Another object of an aspect of the present invention is to create an inexpensive tag label that gives retailers a clear indication that the label has been tampered with if it is removed from an object.
Another object of an aspect of the present invention is to create a tag label for which the length of the string loop can be selected at the time the label is affixed to an object.
Another object of an aspect of the present invention is to create a labeling system that eliminates the need to change carrier strips when changing from printing adhesion labels to printing tag labels or visa versa.
Still another object of an aspect of the present invention is to eliminate wasted labels when they are machine printed.